Jaques leads amazing run chase

Worcestershire 353 for 9 dec (Moore 75, Doshi 6-91) and 287 for 8 (Jaques 107, 57, Doshi 4-68) beat Surrey 501 for 7 dec and 136 for 3 (Clarke 57*) by two wickets
Scorecard

Worcestershire pulled off an astonishing two-wicket win against Surrey as they chased down 285, with just one ball to spare, in 31.5 overs. Phil Jaques led the charge with an outstanding 64-ball century as Worcestershire raced along at nine-an-over and the match was completed in poor light when Zaheer Khan swung his first ball, from Nayan Doshi, for six.

The chase was extraordinary as Worcestershire just kept on going for the target. Following some help-yourself-bowling Jaques launched the hunt with a rush of boundaries as he laid into some awful bowling. However, when Worcestershire had reached 95 in the ninth over, a lengthy rain break appeared to have scuppered their chance.

But the match was not called off early and when the rain relented the charge was back on - even though the overs available had been reduced from 62 to 32. Jaques and Stephen Moore carried the opening stand to 171 before Moore was run-out, then Ian Salisbury ended Jaques blitz and also removed Vikram Solanki.

At no point, though, did Worcestershire think of shutting up shop and runs continued to flow as wickets continued to fall. Doshi claimed three quick ones - including Graeme Hick - and suddenly Surrey had a sniff too. But Kabir Ali and Ray Price stuck vital boundaries, while Ben Smith used all his one-day finishing experience, to get the requirement down to nine off the last over before Zaheer added his finishing touch. Surrey's bowling figures were in tatters; Rikki Clarke went for 22 in his only over and no one managed a maiden.

The chance of the stunning finish was created by Worcestershire's declaration once they'd edged past the follow-on, then they fed Surrey 136 runs in just 8.2 overs before lunch. If the small crowd though that was their fun for the day what followed was truly memorable.